Day 234 and 235

Daily Stats
Start: 5:45 AM - Ferron Point (Two miles north of Rockport, MI)
Finish 2:45 PM - Forty Mile Point (Seven miles north of Rogers City, MI)
Time: 9:00 hours
Daily dist: 31 miles
Total dist: 4600+
Companions: None
Weather: W and SW winds 10mph clear skies and 80’s
Notes: Some of the most georgous shore I've seen so far... anywhere

Yesterday I only had about twenty five miles to go to reach Rogers City where I would be staying with Tom Odgen whom had heard about me via his son out in Westfield, WI. When I had talked to Tom a couple nights before about where to catch up with each other he had mentioned Forty Mile Point Lighthouse which is seven miles past Rogers City and would have meant a 30 mile day. At first I shunned the idea and suggested that I’d meet him on the beach in town. However, that was before I woke to another amazing day on Lake Huron and had yet another great day on the water. By noon when I rounded the point south of town I had certainly not had enough of the amazing scenery. So, I called Tom and asked if he’d still be OK with driving up to the lighthouse to pick me up. It was a short drive for him so that became my ultimate destination for the day and I got to enjoy three more hours on the water.

Wild and empty shore line. I can never get enough of this.

Waiting for me on shore when I arrived was Tom and a reporter from the local newspaper. Tom, who has done several long distance bicycle tours, knew exactly what a person would be craving when they got off the trail on a warm day like today and had a thermos full of ice water for me. It hit the spot. After a quick interview with the reporter, Tom and I loaded my gear and boat into and on to his truck and headed back to his house to meet his wife Elaine. After dinner we headed down to town for some ice cream and to see some of the sights.

Our first stop was out to the limestone quarry to which Rogers City owes its existence. Tom warned me that it was a very big hole but, nothing aside from a comparison to the Grand Canyon could have prepared me for the enormity of the gap in the earth’s crust that man and machinery have created. It was huge, miles across, and quite deep. Monster size dump trucks zoomed back and forth across the bottom looking like Tonka trucks compared to the barren hole itself. In the distance we could see the piles of crushed stone and towers at the loading port that I had paddled by on my approach to town earlier in the day.

That is one BIG hole in the ground

From the quarry we went down to the marina where I recognized a couple of sailboats that had passed me in a long string of sailboats coming out of the marina in Presque Isle about 15 miles to the south. We stopped and I called down to a few guys standing on the nearest boat if it was indeed the same group I’d seen earlier in the day. Sure enough it was, we got to talking about their race, which came up from Detroit over the last couple days, and my tour (which came up from Detroit over the last week or more) and ended up all walking over to a nearby snack bar to get an ice cream cone.

Me and Tom (on right) with three of the guys from the sailing race.

---  I have developed a sort of hierarchy of boaters that I see on the water. Ranked in regards to politeness, seamanship skills, and overall good people; (after other paddlers) sail boaters are on the top of my list. Cigarette boats and jet skis share space on the very bottom. Actually… I have dreams of cigarette boats and jet skis on the bottom. ---

While we chatted one of the sailors warned of what he called “thickening” weather that was on its way in. We could already see the leading edge of the front that he said was due to hit us in the early morning hours trailing behind it more wind than we’ve seen in a while. I hadn’t looked at the weather beyond today so when we got back to the house we pulled up the weather and, sure enough, a few showers were due to pass in the morning. But, more importantly, the wind was due to be blowing strong out of the NW all day. My general rule is that if the wind is at or above 15mph and is blowing right from the direction I want to go, it’s just not worth going out. That is exactly what was being predicted. Tom and Elaine said they didn’t mind if I stayed another day and Tom even suggested that we could drive down to Alpina to see the maritime museum so it became an easy decision to take today off.

Tom and Elaine on the windy beach.

I did harbor a small thought that if the winds magically didn’t build I could still get back on the water in the morning, however when I woke to falling rain and the wind rustling the trees outside the bedroom window, I knew it’d be a good day to stay off the water. After a wonderful breakfast of blueberry pancakes prepared by Tom, we drove down to Alpina and toured the museum. It is a great place chronicling the history of the great lakes shipping industry via the stories of the many, many shipwrecks that have occurred in the lakes. Complete with a mock up of a great lakes schooner that “is floundering in a storm” which you can go inside to see what the cramped quarters of one of those sailing ships was like. They do such a good job of convincing you that the ship is in a storm with flashing lights simulating lightning and lamps swinging on the walls inside the ship that you find yourself swaying on your feet to keep your balance.

Pretty to look at... but would have been a rough go.

Later in the evening the three of us drove down to the shore to get a look at what I had missed by not being on the water for the day. All I can say is that as we looked at the torn up whitecapping water with the wind straight out of the NW blowing spray way up the beach, that I made the right decision to stay off the water. Once again, luck (or divine intervention) put me with folks like Tom and Elaine on a day when I would have otherwise been stuck on a beach by myself.

Now we’re watching the winds predicted for tomorrow (only slightly better) to see if it will be worth getting back on the lake or just waiting until Friday when NOAA weather is predicting what they call “nearly ideal boating conditions.” That sounds good to me.

Elaine admiring the wind swept water